The videos and pictures of a ‘pet’ lion wandering on the streets of Cambodia’s Phnom Penh have gone viral on social media after it was posted on Twitter.
The lion was spotted roaming on Tuesday near its residence, BKK1 villa, neither having any collar nor attendant. The lion was reportedly owned by a wealthy Chinese businessman Qi Xiao, said a Scottish journalist Andrew MacGregor Marshall.
Friend shot this video this morning. Is the lion loose in BKK1? #phnompenh #cambodia pic.twitter.com/mZWBjdR0XR
— Mike Gebremedhin (@Mgebremedhin) August 16, 2021
The 18-month-old lion has been defanged and had its claws removed, activists claimed.
The lion was recaptured by his owner and taken back into his home.
A lion being kept as a pet in a house in Phnom Penh by wealthy Chinese businessman Qi Xiao has been wandering in the street outside, apparently unsupervised. How long will this madness and cruelty be allowed to continue? 1/4 pic.twitter.com/8MXiFPObMN
— Andrew MacGregor Marshall (@zenjournalist) August 16, 2021
The animal’s poor condition was highlighted by the NGO that had assisted in rehousing the lion at the Phnom Tamao Wildlife Centre. It said that the male lion is a young adult raised from a cub which is now 1.5 years old and weighs over 70-kilogram.
According to the NGO, the conditions at a residential home are inappropriate for a wild animal. IT added that the lion’s canine teeth had been removed, drastically reducing the lion’s quality of life.”
